Device for feeding filled cans to closing-machines.



J. C. TALIAFERRO. DEVICE FOR FEEDING FILLED CANS T0 CLOSING MACHINES.

APPLICAHON FILED JULY 3, I913- 9 Patented Apr. 16, 1918.

2 suiqs-susn 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. TALIAFERRO, F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INCORPORATED, 0F SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING FITJLED CANS T0 CLOSING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 16, 1918.

Application filed July 3, 1913. Serial No. 777,271.

} To all wlwm it may concern:

Be it known that I,Jo1-IN C. TALmrnnno, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have A 'sjnvented certain new and useful Improvcments in Devices for Feeding Filled Cans to Closing-Machines, ofwhich the following is a description reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the fig- 1o arcs of reference marked thereon.

v In the filling of open top cans, and more 1 particularly small cans, where a filling ma chine will receive, fill and deliver the cans at a speed greater than the capacity of the ;,1 closing machine, it is desirable to provide 26. which are so constructed and operated that the filled cans are selected or directed to the difi'erent closing machines without retardin their forward travel.

hose and other objects will in part be 80 obvious, and will in part be hereinafter more-fully disclosed. In the drawings, which show b way of illustration one embodiment of t e invention,+

1 Figure 1 is a plan viev'l; showing more or less diagrammatically y improved devices for feeding the filed cans to a plu- 1 rality of closing machin Fig 2 is a side elevati n of the same; .40. Fig. 3 is an enlarged l n view of the distributing devices whic o lace the cans on the conveyor for the closing machines;

Fig. 4 1s a view artly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section of the y same;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of he invention consists generally in a conveyer which is common to the separate clos- .60 ing machines, so that the single conveyer.

will present the filled cans received from the conveyor of the filling machines to the closing machines. The closing machines are disposed along the side of the conveyor.

Devices are provided for sdlectively izeecling the filled cans to the separate closing machines in equal numbers, and Without retarding the forward travel of the cans.

In the present embodiment of the invention, said devices consist in swin ing or movable guides which rcgpive the fil ed cans from the conveyor fofthe filling machines and deliver the same on to the conveyer which feeds the filled cans to the closing machines. These movable guides are so timed that the cans are placed in a zigzag line on the conveyor for the closing machines, and the cans in these zi zag lines are so placed as to be in space lines extending'longitudinally of the conveyer belt, so that selecting devices ma cooperate with each longitudinal line 0 filled cans and thereby direct the longitudinal lines of filled cans to separate closing machines.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, 1 is the support for the filling machine, along which the filled cans 2 are caused to travel by an endless conveyer 3 having spaced fingers 4. thereon. This endless convcyr runs over a suitable sprocket wheel 5 30 at one end and a suitable sprocket wheel 6 at the other end of the support 1, and is driven in the usual way A uide rail 7 is placed on the support 1 and guides the cans in their travel. 3 At the deliverim end of the support 1 of the filling machine, I have placed an endless conveyer 8, which preferablyextends in the same general direction as the conveyer for the filling machine, and this conveyer 8 runs alOIlg the side of the receiving plates 9, 10 and 11 of three closing machines. Each closing machine is preferably provided with a receiving table and drum 12. .96

The conveyor 8 is preferably in the, form of a belt and runs over suitable pulleys, one of which is indicated at 13 in F1 2. This conveyor belt may rest on the ta is so that the Weight of the filled cans will be sup- 10o ported by the table. The conveyor belt 8 is preferably of considerable width, so that the filled cans may be placedin spaced lon gitudinal lines thereon. As shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing, there 10 are three spaced longitudinal lines of filled cans, indicated by the broken lines a-a, bb and c0. Cooperating with the filling machine 9 is a selecting or deflecting guide 14, which extends over the'conveyer belt 8 to a distance slightly beyond the line H, which indicates the centers of the cans placed in this longitudinal line. This guide 14,- however, does not extend far enou h to engage or contact with the cans p ced in the lines 6-1). The closing machine 10 is provided with a deflecting or selecting guide 15, which extends beyond the line b b, so as to engage filled cans located in the line bb whloh indicates the .centers of the cams. This guide bar, however, does not extend sons to on age or' contact with the cans placed in theines 0-0.

A third ide bar 16 coiiperates with the filling mac ine 11, and this bar extends entirely across the Y conveyerbelta It will-be readily understood that the'numberof closing machines. may be increased by increasing the width of the conveyor belt, and increasing the throw of the devices foreglaci'ng the cans, to be hereinafter describ so'as to form additional longitudinal lines of'filled cans, and the guides for selecting or direct-'- ing'the filled cans from the conveyor will be properly disposed relative to the conveyer belt, as has been described in connection with the guides 14, 15'-and 16. i

As a means for placing the filled canson the conveyer belt m the 1011 tudinal lines above described, I have provi ed aswingi guide 17. This swingmlgnguide is pivote at 18 to the frame of t mg machine, and consists of a plate 19 which has a side guidin member or rail 20. The plate is also provi ed with downwardly rojecting arms 21 and 22, carrying a gui in rail 23. This guiding rail 23 is space guiding member 20, so as to form a guiding channel for the filled cans. It will be noted that this guiding device engages thesides' of the cans onl which pass underneath the top plate 19. The receiving end of the guiding rail 23 is curved, as at 24, to faoi itate the entering of the cans into the guiding device.

The guiding device, as above noted, is pivoted at 18 to the sup orting frame of the filling machine, and t e plate 19 carries an arm 25 (see Fig. 2), which arm has a roller 26 mounted in its outer end, and'this roller engages a cam groove 27 formed in a disk 28 pivoted to a bracket 29, carried by the frame of the filling machine.

The disk 28 is provided Wardly extendin hub30, which carries a gearrwheel 31. his gear wheel. 31 meshes with a gear wheel 32 carried by the sprocket wheel 6.

The cam groove 27 is formed with a concentric portion 33'and a second concentric portion 34, and these two concentric portions are joined by two eccentric portions 35 and 36. This cam groove will, therefore,

with a down- "delive the gui e is swungso the delivery filling machines exten from the side 1 means fillin mtbhine in a single line, and are car- 'ried the fingers. 4 from the'end'less conveyer 3 into the guiding member 17. If the guiding member is positioned as shown in 1g. 3, the direction of travel of the filled cans will be slightly changed, so that the cans as they are carried on to the conveyer 8 will be placed in the line 0--c indicated in Fig. 1. If this guide 17 is swung so the -end thereof is located at the line bb, t en the filled cans will be placed in the lon 'tudinal' line b-b. Then a 'in, if

on t ereof is at the line H, the cans will be p aced in the line H. The filled cans are carried bythe fingers into the guide, and will be forced through tgle same on to the conveyor 8. The end of t e an porti table of the b s over t e conveyor 8.

The timing of the swinging of the 17 is .prefera 1y such that two cans will be deliv d n to the conveyor belt while the guide s dwelling at each end of its strl'oke,- and one can will be conveyed on to the conguide veying belt between each end oi the stroke} of the ide. The eccentric groove 85which contro s the guide, is so formed as to 've a slight retar ing movement to theguidg as the can is delivered therefrom in the center line of the conveyor. This shiftingof the filled cans transversely of the conve er oocurs without in any way retarding t e forward travel of the can, and inasmuch as the can is traveling forward, the side sliding ofthe can/on the conveyer belt to ob the point of delivery from the, guide, :ifimot spill th contents thereof. One ofthe essential thihgs in an apparatus of the type described, isto position the cans so they may be conv yed to the closin machines without spillin the contents. It is wellunderstood that w on a can is traveling forward, the direction of travel may be changed without spilling the contents, whereas i sudden y stopped in its travel, then the contents will be spilled.

By my improved device, I

am able to the can is place the cans on the conveyor belt without in any way retarding their forward travel. It will be noted also that the means for placing the cans is positively actuated by, devices which are entire] independent of the cans, and, therefore, is ere. is no ax-ring of the cans by the same being broug t into cantact with shiftin mechanism, so the cans of themselves will s ift the mechanism for placing the same.

Furthermore, by my improved mechanism, am able to properly place the filled cans in zi za lines on the conveyor belt, so that sci fi led cans may be fed to each closing machine, regardless of the number self to a conveyor belt or any other particular type of conveyor.

It is obvious that minorchanges in the details of construction and arrangement of parts may be made, without departin rom the spirit of the invention as set fort in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with a plurality of closing machines, of an apparatus for delivering filled cans to the closing machines, said apparatus including a conveyer for receiving the filled cans, means for feeding the cans in a single line to the conveyer, a

. pivoted guide for engaging and directing the cans so as to position the cans on the conveyer in separate longitudinal lines without retarding the forward travel of the cans, means for positively swingm said guide and giving a dwell thereto a each end of its stroke, and devices for directing the cans in difi'erent lines to separate closing machines.

2. The combination with a plurality of closing machines, of an apparatus for de livering filled cans to said closing machine including a conveyer common to all of the machines, means for feeding the cans'to a conveyer in a single line of feed, positively actuated means ,for receiving the cans and placing the same on the conveyor in spaced linesv extending longitudinally of the conveyer, and devices for directin the filled cans in' the different lines to te separate closing machines.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

JOHN C. TALIAFERRO. 

